


Homespun and Silk

by Cywolf



Category: Naruto
Genre: Anbu Haruno Sakura, Anbu Neji, Anbu Uzumaki Naruto, Anbu tenten, Everyone walks in on Neji and Tenten, F/M, Humor, Neji is frustrated, but they're not exhibitionists, even when there could be, giftfic, newlyweds, no angst whatsoever, vaguely futureset, well tenten's not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:13:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26473957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cywolf/pseuds/Cywolf
Summary: There were many advantages to being members of Konoha's most powerful ANBU squad. These are less apparent when you are, literally, just married.
Relationships: Hyuuga Neji/Tenten
Comments: 5
Kudos: 86





	Homespun and Silk

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a gift-exchange, sireensilver's present, prompt 'homespun'. Shout out to namistai8, ditaykan, and tainted4life for their help with this fic.

There were many advantages to being members of Konoha's most powerful ANBU team. There was the adrenaline-hyped rush of their missions, none of them lower than A-rank. There was, of course, the ego-stoking knowledge that you were being acknowledged as one of the Village's finest. There was the satisfaction of knowing that each and every one of your teammates performed at the same level, that you could trust them not only to have your back when it counted, but to keep challenging you as well. There was the pay and the prestige of course – both of which made it possible for Clan Hyuuga to have countenanced their marriage in the first place.

Yes, on the whole Hyuuga Neji was quite pleased to be a member of ANBU Squad 14.

However, this did not extend to the fact that the Council felt it entirely appropriate to pull him out of his own wedding, the ritual of exchanging saucers of sacred sake barely completed – his lips were only just wet from the drink – and order him to join his team on an S-rank mission. He had just been married, damn their eyes!

Still, he was forced to strip off the wedding finery that had been so carefully worked on by his cousin, and hurriedly pull on his ANBU armor, while a briefings officer chattered mission details at him – knowing all too acutely that his fiancée – no, wife, now, even if that had become true only in the last five minutes – was doing the same thing in the room next door.

His jaw had been clenched the whole time, and it had been clenched as their team-captain gave a much more succinct and practical summary of the situation, and it was still clenched _now_ , as the team flitted through the trees. The muscles were beginning to twinge. As usual, Neji had been positioned at rearguard, trusted to use his Byakugan to scan for enemies and to watch his team's trail. Tenten, however, was in the center of the formation, for various and good reasons, all of which Neji _knew_ – their team had been together long enough that the efficiency and effectiveness of Tenten's positioning had been demonstrated in battle and field conditions, numerous times.

He _knew_ this. But he wanted her beside him.

Hell, while he was at it, he wanted her underneath him. He wanted her at the beach-front property that he had planned to take her to, for their honeymoon. He wanted the scent of incense and wine, of strawberries and melted chocolate. He wanted....

Shikamaru called out to him just in time to save Neji from crashing into a tree.

* * *

This incident, and his teammates' snickering (he suspected even Tenten was hiding a little smile) did nothing to help his already bad mood, and by the time they had settled down for the night he was in a truly horrible frame of mind. For a change, they were not required to make camp – which was a blessing, since it had been raining for hours, and showed no signs of letting up – they had found an isolated farming homestead, whose owner had agreed to let the ninja bivouac in his barn. He even lent them sheets to spread over the haystacks that would be their bedding.

Neji rubbed one hand over the scratchy homespun cloth and looked even more irritated. He knew that at that very moment, sheets of imported Yong silk, dyed in such a way that it shimmered with deep flame-colors, softer than a sigh, more decadent than chocolate, were spread over the monstrously huge bed in the beach-house. Knowing that made this wad of – cloth – all the more offensive to his sensibilities.

Gods damn the Council, hadn't he waited long enough? He ticked off a litany of his suffering as the team settled in. Seven years since he'd experienced the first stirrings of sexual desire – always with her as the subject of his confusing dreams, which had resulted in his thirteen-year-old self trying to simultaneously maintain distance and get closer to Tenten. (She'd later told him that his behavior had been extremely bewildering to her.) Four years since their first, tentative kiss on the training grounds (where else would they have confessed to each other?). Two of being engaged and trying to maneuver around the Hyuuga council's emphatic “no.”

And now, _now_ after all of that – he still couldn't have her.

The two of them had come from backgrounds that discouraged sex before marriage, and they had actually agreed to wait until after the wedding. That being said, they were still young, very physically fit ninja who found each other extremely attractive. They hadn't exactly spent their years together just sparring and fighting and pushing each other to be better fighters. They were teenagers, for crying out loud, and even having agreed to 'wait until marriage', they had found other avenues for their lust: quiet kisses when they could steal them or were in danger of being caught, more heated ones coupled with frenzied, burning hands running over lithe and panting bodies when they were certain that nothing would interrupt them.

(At least – reasonably sure. A smirk tugged at his lips as he remembered those times certain people - like Lee, or Gai-sensei, or Hiashi-sama - or once, all three - had walked in on certain heated situations). Shirts pulled off or even torn off – she was _very_ good with her hidden blades, he'd discovered, in situations _other_ than battle – and there had been _that night_ two weeks ago.....

* * *

 _Neji had_ told _them he didn't want a bachelor party, and he'd heard Tenten saying the same to her excited girlfriends. Apparently their fellow Rookies (and he still didn't know why that nickname stuck, and why he, Lee and Tenten were considered part of it) had decided this meant that instead of separate parties, they'd throw one huge pre-wedding bash for the two of them._

_They'd picked Naruto's place as the venue, as per usual. Naruto had been the only one of them to have a place all his own – no nosy neighbors or parents to interfere – when they were just beginning to throw their own parties. And now...._

_Well, it turned out that a childhood of being refused service at most places did result in one thing – Naruto had a huge amount of unspent cash. Add to that the now substantial paycheck he took home every month as the captain of ANBU Squad 14, with all those bonuses for A- and S-class missions, and Naruto was surprisingly well off. And he had used that money to buy himself a new home, a split-level penthouse in Konoha's downtown. (Ino had helped him – had, actually, taken over the whole operation of scouting places, negotiating the contract, and then fought with Sakura over the interior decorating.)_

_And now he hosted a good two-thirds of the parties the Rookies held. This one looked to be one of the rowdiest._

_Neji and Tenten had both protested they hadn't wanted a party – and they had meant it – but they couldn't deny they had ended up enjoying themselves anyway. Perhaps the expertly spiked drinks had something to do with it, but they had enjoyed the music – they had enjoyed the dancing – they had enjoyed the food – and they were especially enjoying themselves now, as they stumbled up the twisting stairs towards the guest-room. (The master-bedroom was closer, but it was already in use). Hands roamed, tugged at clothing, slipped up loosened shirts to run over heated skin._

_The door was locked – Tenten had to shove Neji's head away from hers so she could concentrate long enough to pick it. He kept trying to kiss her, which meant it took her a whole fifteen seconds to pick the lock – she almost dropped the pick once – instead of the five she normally would have taken._

_And then they were stumbling into the darkened room, legs tangling with each other's so they almost toppled onto the bed. There was rolling involved – and a good deal of something that might have been called wrestling – and it ended up with her straddling his hips, kissing him so hotly he was moaning – which, for Neji, was a pretty big deal. And he couldn't help bucking his hips....but froze once he realized exactly what she should be noticing at this point._

_But she only kissed him again, and murmured hotly, “Well, we're nearly as good as married – we've waited so long...” Her voice was the slightest bit slurred from the drink, and he found the sound of it unbelievably sexy._

_“Wh—what do you... mean?” he rasped, kissing her in between words. She didn't answer him aloud – just began to kiss her way downwards....nipping at his throat...over the skin left exposed by his unbuttoned shirt....and then...and then...._

_His hands were in her hair, trying to stop her – trying to urge her on – he bit his lip until the blood came. He stared up at the ceiling with unseeing eyes, because he knew that if he looked – down – and_ saw _...._

 _Sparks erupted all over his vision and he cried out – he, Hyuuga Neji,_ cried out – _and he wasn't sure if it was her name. He floated back to reality slowly, aware of lungs crying out for oxygen and of a delicious weakness in his limbs, then blinking dazed eyes to see Tenten's face hovering over his, grinning wickedly._

_He blinked at her again, slowly, then raised his head to kiss her languidly, deeply, in a way he'd never kissed her before – pausing only for a moment at the unfamiliar taste in her mouth. She purred in delight, and he shivered, before summoning all his strength to flip them over, straddling her hips as she had his. He bent low over her, pale eyes burning, mouth hovering just above hers...._

_And then Ino walked in._

* * *

Neji squirmed a little as he remembered. The blonde kunoichi had been visibly holding back a a laugh as the couple scrambled to fix their clothes, then told them that everyone else was waiting for them downstairs so they could blow the candles on the cake. Neji had wanted to ask who the hell had decided that cake and candles were necessary for the event, but because Tenten – blushing so red she looked like she was glowing – had wordlessly walked out, he had no choice but to follow.

And in the chaos and bustle of the upcoming wedding, he hadn't had a chance to...return the favor. He had survived, he was sure, only because he could tell himself that in a little while he would be free to sweep her away to that house by the sea, with Yong silks and white sand and candlelight....

Yeah, not so much, he observed, once again glaring at the musty-smelling barn and the heaps of straw that were apparently to make up their beds. He glanced at his wife – his _wife, his_ wife, _his wife_ , the wonder and novelty of saying it even if only in his mind! - who was spreading her own homespun sheets over a heap of straw. He came nearer, ignoring his other teammates.

“Hi,” he whispered in her ear, the first word he'd said to her since being snatched out of their marriage ceremony. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled at him, and for the first time since being snatched out of their wedding ceremony, he smiled too.

Suddenly not having her did not seem so much like torture as it seemed a physical impossibility. He leaned nearer, nipping lightly at her ear. “Let's go – over there,” he suggested, motioning with his chin towards a darker corner of the barn.

She didn't even look at it. “No, Neji.”

“But...”

“I said _no_ , Neji.”

“Please?” Neji whined, hearing that desperate tone in his voice and hating it – but not as much as he was hating the fact that his wife did not seem to want to go into that nice dark corner with him.

“Neji, we're on a _mission_. I shouldn't have to tell you this, you know well enough what the rules say about that. And – Naruto's here, for _shan's_ sake!”

“So?” Neji said sulkily.

“So! You know he's had those enhanced senses ever since that thing with his Seal! If by some miracle we're too quiet to be heard by Shikamaru and Sakura, _he'll_ hear. And he'll _smell_ us!”

Neji tried to nip at her ear again – he'd learned that she went crazy over that – but she only pushed him away and threatened to make her bed by Sakura. So in the end, Neji spent his wedding night sleeping with his wife – but only just that, sleeping, surrounded by the scent of wet straw and unwashed ninjas, and he thought dark thoughts about missing-nin who dared steal important scrolls on _his wedding day._

* * *

They caught up with the Mist missing-nin the next day, but not before the man had made contact with a group of his companions – that is to say, mercenaries. There were almost a hundred of them, with a few missing-nin chuunin and genin thrown into the mix. Naruto had let loose an impressive stream of multi-lingual profanity (a legacy of his travels with Jiraya) at the sight, and truthfully Neji had muttered a few oaths of his own.

Between Naruto's wild thinking and Shikamaru's strategic bent, they had a plan hashed out in almost no time at all. They would keep a coherent unit, Sakura in the back ranks to focus on healing, Shikamaru to bind multiple enemies with shadows, Naruto and Neji in the front ranks. Shikamaru picked the terrain, a narrow defile with high walls and a rocky, sloping floor, for them to face the enemy, somewhat negating the disparity of numbers. This plan relied heavily on Tenten – first, to lace the area around the defile with traps and mines, so the enemy would be discouraged from heading around the defile – and, secondly, as the team's long-range specialist, she was to range in advance and prick the little army into fury.

That part was Naruto's idea. Neji had seriously entertained thoughts of assaulting his team-captain for it.

In some ways, they could have said the operation was a success. The entire enemy force was slaughtered and/or captured, and the missing-nin, in particular – or their heads – would fetch them a considerable bonus in bounty money. Tenten's first salvo had succeeded especially brilliantly – she not only managed to bait the enemy into the defile where her teammates crouched, waiting, but she actually managed to swoop in and kill the Mist-nin who had originally infiltrated Konoha, and to snatch the scroll back.

However, doing this half-killed her, and she barely managed to make it back to the team, bleeding so badly that part of the scroll was drenched in it.

Neji was directly responsible for more than a third of the deaths that day.

* * *

He hovered at her bedside in the hospital, so difficult to dislodge that the nurses had gone past calling his devotion 'cute' to 'how am I supposed to change her IV drip if he won't let me near her?' When she woke up, three days later, she was greeted with a shower of fervent kisses all over her face from a frantic fianc... _husband._

Tenten smiled as she realized that her husband, _hers_ , had waited by her bedside the entire time.

* * *

“No physical strain for the next three weeks, mind – _none_ at all. And that includes sex.”

Neji grit his teeth and thought _very_ dark thoughts.


End file.
